DATE OR DISASTER

Produced by Rachael Rowan, Daniel Schweiger, and Richard Elfman
Directed by Richard Elfman
Written by Robert Maschio, Rachael Rowan, Daniel Schweiger, and Richard Elfman
Edited by Greg Robbins
Director of Photography - Jessica Gallant

Touch Johnson - Robert Maschio
Donny - Jeff Tschida
Dan - Daniel Schweiger
Heather - Rachael Rowan

It's pretty much a given that Blind Date is a particularly sleazy show. For those that haven't had the displeasure of watching what it perhaps the worst of reality programming, two attractive singles are matched up and followed around for an evening that usually culminates in hot tub sexual tension. As viewers watch the prearranged evening unfold, thought balloons appear on screen sharing the shallow duo's inner most thoughts... "great ass," "loser," and "small package" being some of the more frequently used.

Richard Elfman's DATE OF DISASTER attempts to satirize "reality dating" television by pushing the concept to its absurdist extremes. Flighty method actress Heather is paired with gay porn director Dan. She's an ass-kicking hottie, he's a repressed homosexual dweeb. She's a sure thing. He couldn't talk his own hand in to performing a manual override. Throughout the night, host Touch Johnson pushes the two from one compromising situation to the next.

If the world were UPN, DATE OR DISASTER would be a winning formula for success on all levels. Then again, if it weren't for STAR TREK and BUFFY, nobody would watch UPN. Only on that network can a show fall just barely break the weekly top 100 and be considered a success.

That first half of DoD fails because it mocks and doesn't parody. While the movie makes fun of it's subject matter, it doesn't have fun. With the exception of a sock-puppet jamboree, the first half of DATE OR DISASTER completely falls flat. The jokes are obvious and uninspired. Even worse, they go nowhere.

It isn't until the second half that Richard Elfman taps the darkly surreal weirdness found in his cult film FORBIDDEN ZONE. Forced to face his own inadequacies as a man, Dan is pushed past the point of sanity and takes the show hostage....and gets a make-over while he's at it. It's this capricious lunacy that missing from the first half. You just can't force whimsy...

From what I've heard, DATE OR DISASTER went through a number of production problems including the replacement of directors and various cinematographers. With so many conflicting hands in the mix I'm actually surprised to see that the movie isn't a total mess...merely uneven. A weak set-up marred by odd directorial choices is saved by a strong punchline that ventures into a frantically-paced bizarro land of reality quirkiness.

DATE OR DISASTER